Oct 22, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) reacts after a shot against the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Magic star questions team's ability to adjust

Originally posted on Orlando Magic on SI
By Matt Hanifan | Last updated Mar 2, 2026 11:59 AM ET

For the second consecutive game, the Orlando Magic saw themselves on the wrong end of a second-half splurge.

Less than 72 hours after the Houston Rockets parlayed a 21-0 run into a five-point win inside Kia Center, outscoring the Magic by 15 after halftime, the top-seeded Detroit Pistons trounced them in the second half by 21, including by 14 (23-9) over the final 9:58.

After the game, Paolo Banchero expressed discontent about the team's inability to adjust to other teams' counters.

"Just being more organized," Banchero said when asked what the Magic must do in the second half, according to the Orlando Sentinel's Jason Beede. "Being able to communicate with each other, what we're trying to do.

"A lot of teams adjust at halftime and I think that's why we struggled a lot in the second half. We don't really adjust to their adjustments. So that's when we need to see how they're playing us and we need to clearly communicate to each other what it is that we need to do, particularly offensively."

“Teams, a lot of times, adjust at halftime and I think that’s why we struggled a lot in the second half just cause we don’t really adjust to their adjustments,” #Magic forward Paolo Banchero said after Orlando’s loss to Detroit.

He mentioned the need for better communication: pic.twitter.com/IKGQhGv1rk
— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) March 2, 2026

This is who the Magic are, at this point:

Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Magic are tied for seventh with the most blown double-digit leads (10) this season. They have a minus-0.7 NET Rating (17th) in the second half since the start of December. Zooming in, that mark is minus-5.1 in a much smaller six-game sample post-All-break.

Orlando led by as many as nine in the first half -- including by seven heading into halftime -- even though Detroit clanked its first 15 3-pointers. The Pistons ramped up the physicality a couple of notches and completely shut off the water, holding the home team to just 30.8 percent shooting in the second half, including just 5-of-23 from 3-point range with 10 turnovers.

Alas, the issue of maintaining leads has crept up in the worst possible time for Orlando with just 23 games left in the season. Although one of Jamahl Mosley's fatal flaws has long been his inability to successfully make in-game adjustments.

Orlando is tied with Miami for the No. 7 seed in the East. If there's one team it's seemingly adjusted to -- it's them. Though the Magic don't play the Heat 82 games per season. They were without two of their best players against Detroit. But when you have one of the league's best by the ropes, you gotta knock them out on your home floor ... or else they'll find a way to do that to you.

At this point, this is who the Magic are: A talented, albeit flawed team, who isn't able to consistently string together 48 minutes of good basketball, irregardless of the opponent.